Hi all,

Tonight has not been good. After very nearly 2 years and 18,000 miles of faultless running, my Fabia has broken down :'(

Some background: It's an '05 plate 1.9TDi PD100 (ATD engine code) Elegance, with a Performance Torque Stage 1 remap (fairly sure it isn't a factor, but anyway). It currently has 37,500-ish miles, and was last serviced 10 months and 9,500 miles ago.

While driving along a country lane at 30mph, it just completely cut out on me. When I pulled over and went to restart, it turned fine but would not fire until several attempts later. There was a lot of white smoke when it did start, but I'm sure this would have just been from cranking the engine.

On the move, it seemed fine. It would accelerate smoothly and come on boost with no apparent problems (so at least it's not the turbo). However, the engine management light stayed on. and it cut out again less than a mile down the road. I decided to get fuel and attempt to limp home.

The fuel light came on earlier in the evening, but the computer still showed 65 miles left in the tank. I did run it very low a couple of weeks ago, so I'm wandering if it could be moisture or debris being dragged through the system? Although I would have thought that would have happened before now.

Anyway, it cut out on me several more times, so I decided to give up and call a mechanic friend of mine to have a look and give me a tow. He reckons it's either a fuel or electrical system problem, and that my best course of action would be to try a fresh fuel filter (even though the current one is less than 10,000 miles old, there could be debris etc) and, failing that, get the car to a garage for a diagnostic check. The fuel pump can be heard when the ignition is switched on, but he reckons it may be faulty. Who knows?

I have no other ideas, so I was wondering if any of you have come across anything like this before?

Any advice, comments or ideas, would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Andrew

This is where vagcom comes in so handy as it should pinpoint better where the issue lies.

From your symptoms though, I am not sure what to suggest first as I have never had similar. It might be a cam or crank position sensor which is on the blink.

Diagnostic scan seems to be pointing the finger at the fuel pump relay. More investigating (and hopefully fixing) tonight.

If you're completely stumped, call "A for Audi"; they're good, and quite happy to work on any VAG car.

Turns out it's the in-tank fuel lift pump. Which costs £221

:(

Turns out it's the in-tank fuel lift pump. Which costs £221

:(

How much? Jesus wept!

How much? Jesus wept!

I wept too! :'(

Thieves.

That'll be the money for the coilovers gone then Andrew :(

This is were breakers yard comes in handy Usually about £50

That'll be the money for the coilovers gone then Andrew :(

For the time being at least...

This is were breakers yard comes in handy Usually about £50

Shame there wasn't any Fabias in the one scrapyard on Lewis :S

F*****G STUPID PIECE OF SH!TE CAR TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE!!!!!

(Translation: The £230 fuel pump has not cured the problem and the closest garage slot is Tuesday morning. I'm only home till next Friday, then I'm at sea in Asia for 15 weeks. So I'll probably be car-less until then. My 20th birthday is this Saturday, my last weekend at home, and I'm too skint to do anything for it.)

:'( :wonder: :( :| :S :no:

And breathe...

Ouch mate that sucks, hope u get to the bottom of it soon :(

aww! you'll be alright mate.

sorry it wasnt the fuel pump....thats a buggar. if your at uni its student loans on monday?! :p:P

So what lead you to the fuel lifter pump?

On my last Fabia (but a 16v petrol) the fuel pump relay went causing very similar results. It doesn't actually come up as a relay fault though, just logs everything else whining about no fuel. On the AUB it came up as faulty injector faults.

I'd change the relay before any more expensive parts if it's becoming a head scratcher.

Really sorry to hear the lifter didn't fix it, Have you binned the original... eBay it?

So what lead you to the fuel lifter pump?

On my last Fabia (but a 16v petrol) the fuel pump relay went causing very similar results. It doesn't actually come up as a relay fault though, just logs everything else whining about no fuel. On the AUB it came up as faulty injector faults.

I'd change the relay before any more expensive parts if it's becoming a head scratcher.

Really sorry to hear the lifter didn't fix it, Have you binned the original... eBay it?

Basically, we established that the original pump had power going to it (using ye olde multimeter), so we could rule out the relay...or so we thought. The relay did cross our minds, must say I'm kicking myself now for not ordering one of them too, just in case....

The fault was logged as 'Fuel Circuit A fault' or something.

The original is still sat in my garage...